


Pretty Angel

by Kimmy



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angel Powers, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Developing Relationship, Human Experimentation, Humiliation, M/M, Runes, Seelie Court, Tumblr Prompt, War, this is less whumpy than planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 10:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15217481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimmy/pseuds/Kimmy
Summary: Jace gives himself up to gain Seelies help in winning the war. But he doesn't know the Queen can lie the way no Seelie should be able to do...Bad Things Happen Bingo, square: I have you now, my pretty, pairing: Jace/Meliorn.





	Pretty Angel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Takara_Phoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/gifts).



> Writen as part of Bad Things Happen Bingo over on tumblr, which you can find there at @badthingshappenbingo and me at @kimmycup. After the short break this weekend, now again the works from my bingo card will be posted daily.

“We will help you in your fight against Jonathan but I require payment in return.”

“Name your price.”

“I want you, Angel Boy.”

“We accept your terms.”

***

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Alec sat on Jace’s… Jace’s former bed, the bed that would always be his, waiting, but soon stand empty at nights while Jace was throwing clothing out of the wardrobe and into his suitcase.

“You named me your co-head for a reason, Alec. You trusted me to make the decision that’s the best for our world. And I did. My freedom for a thousand lives. It’s not a choice you can argue with.”

Jace came to sit next to him Alec sighed.

“Come here.” He hugged Jace close, clinging to him with all his life. “You’re right, you know? I may hate it, but I agree with you and I’m proud of you.”

“I’m scared shitless, Alec. I’m more terrified then when I was dying. I’m scared of the way time passes differently. Scared I will miss you all. Me and you, we at least have the bond but Izzy and Max don’t even have that.”

“We’ll figure it out somehow. We’re at peace now. We can think on how to contact you and not allow the Queen to hurt you. Magnus can reach out. Maybe it’s not forever.”

“I really hope you’re right, Alec.” Jace sighed, trying to soak up the comfort of his parabatai for the last time in who knows how long. “I really hope you’re right.”

***

Jace held his head high as he was led through the gloomy forests by the guards. He might not have been physically restrained by he had no illusion of freedom and he felt the captivity on his back, stifling and painful and overwhelming already.

He hated the Seelie Realm.

It was worth it to achieve peace though. He could live through this if it meant everyone was safe. It was a small price to pay. His eyes fell on Meliorn’s familiar figure in the background, quickly moving his gaze as he came to stand in front of the queen.

She eyed him with predatory glee and he tried to ignore teh way it made his skin crawl.

“I have you now, my pretty.”

Jace bit his lip to hold a cutting response, choosing to listen to his inner Alec voice for a change. He could do this.

***

He couldn’t do this.

Jace took a deep breath, trying to keep calm, trying to not snap, not cry, not yell, not punch something. Not give the Queen what she wanted.

It was painful. It was humiliating. It was becoming unbearable. His stele was taken the moment the queen has gleefully taken possession of her pet and she demanded him to give her a show of his powers ever since.

She didn’t take no for an answer.

She wasn’t pleased to learn he had no control of it yet.

So she went down similar route as Valentine, funnily enough, considering Jace gave himself up to her so she could help end the war he started, and she decided to start experiments that would “help” Jace explore his new abilities.

Beating him up until his iratze flared up.

(Or not, his self-reservation instinct was never very strong)

Forcing him into a fight unarmed until his agility activated.

Leaving him in the wandering woods till only nourishment rune kept him going.

That one time she set him on fire because she realized fireproof rune exists.

(That day Jace found out his self-preservation isn’t  _ that _ bad, and his powers allow for temporary runes he hadn’t drawn before to spontaneously appear on his body.)

Jace hated it, even if he was grateful for the amount of control he gained and everything he learned. He just wished he would one day be able to go back somewhere that knowledge could be useful.

He was a canary in a golden cage, only there for the queen’s entertainment, sometimes tormented for hours, days at a time for fun, sometimes left alone because they weren’t in the mood to abuse him.

There were days he could almost forget.

Almost.

***

“May I come in?”

“You already did, didn’t you?” Jace joked but he smiled at knight, putting the brush down where he was trying to do something with his hair which kept growing long in the Seelie Realm, with no hairdresser (or scissors, even, and they confiscated his seraph blades) in sight to cut it.

“Do you want me to plait it?”

Jace looked at Meliorn in surprise before considering it.

“Actually, I’d like that, if you don’t mind.” 

Jace sat down on his sofa, feeling the seelie position himself behind him and start to slowly work on his hair with skilled fingers. Jace allowed himself to close his eyes and relish in the pleasure of the gentle touch. Although never an overly affectionate person, after weeks in the isolation as the Queen’s pet, he found himself longing for comforting contact.

His only interactions these days where either humiliating, straining, or with Meliorn, who took habit of visiting Jace from time to time. The blonde chose not to question it, grateful for the company.

“How are you?”

It was such a simple question but when asked with genuine concern it meant so much, especially in his situation.

“I feel a bit like a circus animal.”

Meliorn chuckled. 

“I wouldn’t know. We don’t get circus here.”

“You don’t? That’s sad. Guess it explains why the Queen uses me as cheap entertainment.”

“You seem to have adapted well despite that.”

“I’m used to it. Adapting. New surroundings.”

Meliorn’s hand stilled for a barely noticeable moment.

“I heard.”

“I don’t blame you. You don’t have to feel sorry for me.”

“I don’t have to like my queen’s every decision either.”

“That sounds almost like treason.” 

Meliorn didn’t reply to that and Jace didn’t push. He closed his eyes, focusing on teh pleasant sensation, and thought back to Izzy, as he often did with Meliorn around. He found it strange at first, becoming close to the knight she once slept with, but that phase was long gone, and instead it just brought memories of her.

After the first few days Meliorn told him she tried to meet with him so she could see Jace, but teh queen blocked the ways into the Realm. Now, Jace just missed her. Her and Max, especially since he didn’t get to see his little brother before leaving.

With Alec, it was different. Somehow, the bond was as strong as ever despite the distance, and it helped. But it was also a painful daily reminder, that as comfortable as he was getting here, it wasn’t his place.

He wanted out.

Lost in thought, he didn’t notice Meliorn leaving.

***

The Queen was absent a lot, lately. 

Jace couldn’t say he minded. If he had to be stuck here, he would still be happy to never see her face again. He lay on a meadow now, trying not to think, focusing on slowly building a delicate flower crown from daisies that littered the grass around him. 

The news had come weeks ago. 

The war had started. And for once, Jace wouldn’t be allowed to fight. Now that the war against his father and “brother” was finally coming to an end, he wouldn't be there. Strangely, he found himself… not minding, happy to stand down and not be a warrior for once.

It was hard to admit it, even to himself, but he was tired of fighting, and he if he never saw Jonathan again, it would still be too soon.

He focused on trying to support Alec through the bond, lend him his strength and emotional support, help his parabatai as much as could. The moment relief and gratefulness bled into the bond next to tension, he almost cried.

He carefully arranged the tiny flowers, entangling the stems in a sturdy chain, and thought back to everything that happened in this strange new reality despite its daily wrongness. Thought about Meliorn. 

When the news about the battle arrived Jace knew he would have to say goodbye and he did, as always, ignore his inner Alec and instead of confronting the reality, went into the woods to sulk. 

He found that meadow then, back then still full of other flowers, colourful, sunny and bright, so much different than the gloomy surroundings of most of the realm. He lay there then, pouting and thinking, and Meliorn found him.

The Seelie was the one who made a flower crown back then, huge and filled with all kinds of buds, worthy of a king. They didn’t talk, but at some point Jace sat up, facing Meliorn, silently watching him work. 

Meliorn eventually put the crown on him and then he kissed him, the Nephil kissing back, slow, languid, sweet like the first kiss even if it held the terrifying risk of it being also the only and last. 

When Meliorn left, Jace refused to say goodbye.

“You look cozy there.”

Jace startled, turning to look at the newcomer, not expecting anyone to be there. His heart skipped a beat as he recognized the familiar long hair with blue streaks, the tired but kind eyes, face hardened by fresh battle but face he had been scared of never seeing again  _ here and safe _ .

He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, standing up and putting up the daisy crown on Meliorn’s head, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. Their second, as sweet, maybe sweeter than the first because this one they knew was not the last.

“Welcome home.”

The word still didn’t feel right on his tongue but he chose it anyway. His knight’s face however soured at the sound of it, the relief of return overshadowed by seriousness of some new problem.

“We need to talk.”

***

Jace held his head high as he was led through the gloomy forests by the guards. It was so similar and yet so different than the first time he was in this situation. 

He hated the Seelie Realm.

He loved the Seelie Realm.

Back when he was first forced to live here to help achieve peace, he thought he was doing the right thing. He’d missed his life every day but he had come to find strange peace here. He’d known now, at least, he hadn’t missed any actual time through magical time differences. The Queen granted him that mercy at least.

But he almost liked it. He’d come to find people…

Person, he loved.

And yet, when this was all happening, he would never have thought the Seelie Queen would betray everything they agreed on, lied the way the Seelies shouldn’t be able to do, sided with Jonathan.

(Her lover. The very thought made Jace’s skin crawl.)

He would never think everything would turn around, and things that once seemed so simple would suddenly become problems. He met the almost predatory gaze of a figure on a throne with his own.

No longer the icy blue but warm chocolate ones.

“I have you now, my pretty.”

Jace bit his lip to hold a cutting response, choosing to indulge his lover. Instead he simply rolled his eyes and went to kiss him. He never thought that once the war was won Meliorn of all people would become King, and although he had his freedom back, he would be willingly travelling back to the Seelie Realm, jumping between the everyday realities of love and family. 

Freely. Willingly. Happily. 

Not forced to choose, getting to watch the Shadow World finally come together around him. It was everything he never thought he would live to see. He found himself not only uncaring of the deal he had made that day during the war, but actually glad.

He settled on Meliorn’s lap, languidly stretching on the throne.

“You’re a drama queen, Mel.”

“Drama king.”


End file.
